All the eight were buried today in their respective rural
homes.
Mr Solomon Marera who lost two young brothers Peter and
Tendai said the family would have struggled to mobilise resources to give the
two family members a decent burial.
“We thank the Government for helping us at the most
critical time in our lives. It is not easy to lose two family members at once
and I am failing to believe that they are gone just like that,” he said.
Mrs Shaudhai Joni said her son Alexio Makombe, died before
her eyes while she continued singing thinking that it was the holy spirit.
“We continued to sing while the prophets struggled for
life. We thought it was the holy spirit. We were not aware that they were now
in need of help and they were drowning,” she said.
“When the first three were assisted to get out we then
realised the gravity of the situation. The first four were helped out
immediately and we were hopeful that they would make it but it was too late. We
had to search for the remaining four using tree branches.
“When we went to the pool we were seeking the holy spirit
but unfortunately the evil spirit followed us. We cannot point a finger at
anyone because it was not the first time for my son to do his prophetic duties.
I cannot reject my God because of this incident.”
Mr Adwell Makombe said deaths came when people were not
prepared and the Government had given a big hand at such a critical time.
The church elder Mr George Kamhekete who was representing
the church thanked the Government for the assistance and said burying the eight
was a mammoth task which the church could not handle.
“The Government has assisted us tremendously because all
the family members were in need of help. As a church, there was nothing much we
could do to assist the family in burying their relatives. We sincerely thank
the Government,” he said.
“I was the oldest of the church members and prophet and
when the incident happened they were all scared. It is not acceptable to
encounter such a devastating incident in Christianity this is very sad. The
incident has shocked the church and I don’t think we will go back to the pool
for baptism.”
Mr Kamhekete was not forthcoming on the issue of the rod
allegedly thrown into the river by the church leader.
He said, “There were magnitudes of church members waiting
to get baptised and I didn’t see if there was a ‘holt stick’ or not. I was also
standing far from the pool.
“A few minutes after jumping into the pool we could tell
that they were struggling to swim. The three who were rescued said they were
tired and refused to go back and assist the others.
“I don’t know what they felt in the water. I didn’t dare to
enter. The eight died holding on to each other in pairs.” Herald
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